


The Naga's Wish

by Cluegirl



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-19
Updated: 2010-08-19
Packaged: 2017-10-11 04:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/108259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cluegirl/pseuds/Cluegirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter makes it a habit not to wish for things he cannot possibly get; like one last chance to be with Severus Snape...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Naga's Wish

It happened that once, in a land far away, a young Auror did chance upon a mighty serpent, trapped in a drying stream, which had once been a river deep and wide, and would be so again, once the Monsoons returned to the land. The serpent's scales were of the deepest green, edged 'round with gold, as though a fire burned brightly behind each one. It had a mane of river black and silver sheen, and its eyes were the scarlet of heart's blood and desire. The Auror knew at once that he looked upon no common creature, but a Naga, and from its size, an old one as well.

Speaking to the Naga -- for Parseltongue was the young man's gift -- he learned that he had come up for a spring festival, and drunk with joy and wine, he had fallen asleep until summer. Now, trapped in the shrinking water, he lay awaiting the sun's killing caress, or the assistance of a wizard who might see past the worth of his hide and fangs. There, the Auror smiled, took the hint, and cast magics upon the stranded Naga, shrinking him to no bigger than a python, and gathering him up in a cradle of cool water, to carry him away to safety.

The burden was heavy, for small though he had grown, the Naga's age and power made him ponderous to bear, and so by the time he had led the Auror to the hidden cavern that was his own safe place, the man was weary beyond the telling of it. He stumbled upon the rocky beach, but stubbornly bore his burden to the water before he allowed weariness to bear him down with a groan and a splash.

Now returned to the place that was sacred to him, the Naga took once more the shape he preferred, and bore the young man up to the air in gentle coils.

"You have saved me," he said as the Auror coughed and gasped. "It will never be said that I am not grateful. You may name your desire, and I will see it granted."

"I did not save you for reward," the man said, and carefully extricated himself.

"Nor would I offer a reward had you done so. But I do for you now. Ask your boon. Tell me what you wish for."

But the Auror was thinking of mirrors which showed lies, of diaries which made promises at an awful price, and of another giant serpent he had once known, and he shook his head, turning away. "Kindly share my boon with the next mortal who should cross your path," he said. "I want for nothing, particularly."

The Naga's tail, bannered in ebony as thick as his mane, brushed before the man's thighs as he strode toward the shore, tickling him to a wary stop as the mighty head rose up from the water behind him. "All men want for something, youngling," the Naga murmured, resting his chin upon the Auror's shoulder, "whether they will admit to it or not. You wish... for family..."

And the Auror, thinking of his children, nodded. "I do. And I have family, dearly beloved."

"You wish for love," said the Naga, growing amused.

And the Auror thought of his friends, dear and close to his heart, and to his wife, comfortable and familiar as a waking sigh, and he nodded. "I have that too."

"You wish for respect." The lower coil brushed closer at the rising tremour in the taut thighs.

And the Auror thought of his work, and the faces of those who worked around him, and he nodded. "Yes, but that cannot come from you."

And then, the Naga understood what form his gift would take. He released the young man, slipped back into the shadows, and took up the shape he had glimpsed in the silences between words. Then he stepped, quiet and gentle, back to the young man's side, and said in a voice of smoke and velvet, "You want forgiveness."

Startled, the young man turned, and might have fallen, had the Naga not caught his arm and pulled him close. "You wish to see my eyes look to you without scorn, without hatred. You wish to hear me say 'Well done, Potter,' and to know no sarcasm in the words." With one pale, stained hand, the Naga brushed at the Auror's flushing cheek. "You wish to hear me tell you that I regret not having loved you before, and that I wish I had seen your inner heart in time to show you my own."

"No," the Auror choked, catching the fingers in his own, and leaning close. "That isn't what I want from you at all..." And then, with a kiss, he let his wish be known in full.


End file.
